Talking about the pandemic can be a bit of a taboo subject for many companies (yeah, didn’t think we’d open a fact-based blog post with pandemic talk, did you? Surprise). But the truth is, the drastic measures businesses needed to take to survive, have pushed industries in directions they may not have expected.
Things like the best way to communicate to your audience, fluid working environments and social media platforms shifting like tectonic plates, have all contributed to a change in thinking. Granted, the needle was already moving steadily in this direction. But these events have given it a distinct bump.
Studies by Wyzowl have indicated that 64% of marketing professionals said their video marketing plans for 2021 and 2022 were affected by the pandemic.
For some, this would mean delays and cancellations to live-action filming. For others it would mean exploring alternatives.. such as animation. And for 43%, video was the solution to many new challenges, introduced by the pandemic.
The study also revealed that:
92% now consider video to be the most important part of marketing.
79% of non-video marketers say they expect to start using video as a marketing tool in 2022 – which is 10% higher than 2021.
94% say video has helped them increase user understanding of their product or service.
86% revealed it has helped them generate leads, while 81% said video has helped them directly increase sales.
But thankfully, things are stabilising. Eyes have been opened. Lessons learned. And risk and uncertainty are shrinking. This is clearly shown with 50% of marketers expecting the pandemic to still affect their video marketing budget for 2022. This may sound high, but remember these are examples where adjustments need to be made. And it’s important to note that this is down 13% (from 63%) in 2021.
Using Wistia’s user data analysis, we can see the goals companies have for their video marketing in 2022:
22.4% want to drive brand awareness
21.6% are after product education
18.4% are focussed on driving customer engagement
18.4% want to generate leads
12.1% want to drive sales
And 5.1% are intent on highlighting their company culture
(2.1% stated “other”)
And of those surveyed, 40.3% stated they will increase their video budget in 2022.
Speaking of increasing budgets, let’s talk about bang for your buck. Every movie in the cinema feels like it’s nearly three hours long (Bond, Batman, looking at you two) and even the season finale of Stranger Things was two episodes that ran for a combined four hours! But when it comes to explainer videos, there’s a very clear cut-off, as Vinyard’s research shows:
56% of successful videos are less than 2 minutes long.
And 59.9% of viewers said that a video being too long would strongly deter them from watching.
Vinyard also acknowledged that the overall number of videos over 20 minutes grew last year by 200%. But before anyone uses that to justify a half hour explainer video, this is mostly reflective of educational content and on-demand webinars. When it comes to getting across a clear, simple message, short-form is still king.
According to Hubspot, mobile video consumption continues to rise 100% every single year. Meaning, unsurprisingly, Inc.com have found that 90% of videos watched are on mobile phones. And with 48% of marketers creating four or more videos every month [source: Tubular Insights], mobile phone optimisation has to be factored in.
We always consider who the audience is and where they will view a video. And when you want to maximise its reach on multiple platforms or devices, it helps to repurpose your main video in a way that works best for phones.
This is why we offer social hooks. Short, looping animations that are formatted for the intended platform. An absolutely fantastic way to get across your message quickly, succinctly and efficiently.
We cannot forget that for a lot of companies, videos are a route to growth and sales. Video Explainers found that businesses are 53 times more likely to appear on the first page of Google results, if video is utilised on their webpage. This is because, by including video, you are improving SEO and boosting your place in the rankings.
And when it comes to sales, videos are a no brainer:
70% of millennials are likely to watch an explanatory video when shopping online [Animoto]
57% of all consumers said that video gives them more confidence when purchasing online [E-Tailing]
Marketers who use video, grow revenue 49% faster than non-video users [Wordstream]
Having a video on your landing page can increase conversions by 80% or more [Slideshare]
The really exciting aspect to all this, is where we go next. Methods, practices and approaches that might have been a hard sell, are now becoming widely sought after.
Because if we have to close on any fact, it’s these two:
People watch an average of 19 hours of online videos per week. That’s an increase of 8.5 hours per week in the last four years! And people are twice as likely to share video content with their friends, than any other form, whether that’s a social media post, a blog, an article or product pages [Wyzowl].
Check out our explainer videos here.
